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| ARI NOE, LEFT |
De Blasio Supporter Convicted of Sexual Abuse Begins Jail Term
One of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
leading supporters in New York’s Orthodox Jewish community surrendered
in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday to begin a 15-day sentence for
misdemeanor sexual abuse, after an appeals court rejected his request
for a new trial, the district attorney’s office said.
The
supporter, Ari Noe, 42, of Borough Park, Brooklyn, was sentenced nearly
three years ago after being convicted of forcibly touching a woman in
an Upper West Side bar, but the execution of his sentence had been
delayed repeatedly while he appealed the verdict.
Mr.
Noe went to court on Thursday expecting another delay, but in a
surprise move, a prosecutor handed him a decision from the appeals court
denying his motion for a new trial.
Mr.
Noe’s lawyer, Abe George, asked the court for more time to allow his
client to get his affairs in order. But Judge Melissa A. Crane said Mr.
Noe had exhausted his appeals and ordered court officers to take him
into custody right away.
Mr.
George said he was surprised by “the callousness of both the D.A. and
the judge not to allow Mr. Noe time to settle his affairs and have a
proper goodbye with his wife and six children.”
Mr.
de Blasio has distanced himself from Mr. Noe, the chief executive of an
outdoor advertising company and a backer of the mayor’s 2013 campaign,
since Mr. Noe’s conviction came to light this year.
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